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| LENT 2022 |
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die. JN11:25, 26
ISAIAH 49:8-15 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
If we are steeped in Sacred Scripture, if we stay within the embrace of Holy Mother Church, if we walk in the Way that You walked and obey Your command to follow You, then the salvation that You came to give us is ours.
You came to give us a Kingdom - a Kingdom that was promised to God's chosen people but because they rejected You Your invitation was extended to the whole world. Anyone who believes in You will be given a seat at the banquet table.
You came into the world to show us the Way to the Father's House it is the way of truth, beauty, goodness, and righteousness. The Kingdom of heaven belongs to all who are united with You, all who are members of Your Body, all who are fed at the Eucharistic Table, all who are washed in Your Blood and sealed in Your Holy Spirit. It is these who are marked for eternal life - they will behold the face of God and will live forever.
Even in this life, we can experience the freedom that belongs to the children of God for He has made a Covenant of Love with us in You. Before He laid the foundations of the world He chose us to believe in You and to receive the fullness of life that flows from You.
All who believe can and will be saved. Salvation is Your free gift to everyone who believes sadly not all will accept it. But those who do have Your assurance:
They will never hunger or thirst,
scorching wind and sun shall never plague them;
for he who pities them will lead them
and guide them to springs of water.
I will make a highway of all the mountains,
and the high roads shall be banked up.
And when the world gets too much for us and darkness hides Your Face and we are afraid and cry out to You saying,
‘The Lord has abandoned me,
the Lord has forgotten me.’
You will reply:
‘Does a woman forget her baby at the breast,
or fail to cherish the son of her womb?
Yet even if these forget,
I will never forget you.’
JOHN 5:17-30 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
When we know that we are doing God's work, like You we will be fearless in the face of opposition, persecution, suffering, and even death. When we walk on the path of truth and are prepared to die for it then we will behold Your Face. Grace will be granted to us and we will walk in serenity through the valley of death.
You came into the world to make visible the invisible God. You came into the world so we could touch God, taste Him, and become one with Him just as the Triune God is one. You came to teach us who God is. God is love and You became incarnate of the Holy Spirit so we could know the Father as He is Love Incarnate born of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Spirit is the power of that love that draws us into the family of God. Your Sacrifice on the Cross made it possible for us to enter into Your life and share it as You entered into our death and crushed its power over a fallen world.
This is why those who follow false gods, false creeds, a watered-down gospel, and a cafeteria approach to the New testament hate the Church You founded.
Just as You did nothing on Your Own, Beloved, so the Church does nothing on her own, she does only what she has seen You do, she teaches only what You taught, she hands down through her successors Peter and the Apostles without error that sacred deposit of faith that You entrusted to the Twelve.
The greatest miracle and one that is ongoing is that despite all the grave sins that some members of the Church have committed and continue to commit the Truth, the Beauty, and the Goodness of the Church cannot be tarnished for the fullness of each of these attributes are found in her. The Church is a hospital and some of the worst sinners are found in her, she certainly is not a museum for saints. It is You who keep her, sustain her, abide in her and You will ensure that despite Satan's best efforts to destroy her from without and within the gates of hell will never prevail against her.
Just as the Father loves You, You love Your Bride, the Church. You gave Yourself up for her and when You return again in glory, Beloved, You will present her to Your Father without wrinkle or stain for she is Yours.
Happy are those who believe for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
For the Father, who is the source of life,
has made the Son the source of life;
and, because he is the Son of Man,
has appointed him supreme judge.
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